The Cracked Pot
Adapted from an Indian folk tale
by Sunithi Gnanadoss
Alone figure set against the evening sky looked more like a painting than reality. His
slow movement, however, confirmed he was real. The stark landscape ached with desolation. The fissured land lay almost naked.
Cattle limped around with bones protruding, and an occasional spurt of cactus stood in solitude where shurbs and trees once
jostled together. In the midst of this landscape stood a sprawling house with a pretty garden.
Hari the water bearer was the silhouetted figure, balancing a pole across his shoulders
with two pots suspended from it. Daily he walked the parched land to a well, drew water and traced his way back to his mater's
house. He was responsible for its water supply, but on one such journey he noticed that one of the earthen pots had a crack.
Hari, who was in the habit of talking to his surroundings, found he was suddenly interrupted
by a loud sigh.
"Who did that?" Hari asked.
Picking up its cue, the cracked pot let out another sigh. "What is it?" Hari asked.
"I'm sorry," came the reply.
"Why, what's the matter?" Hari asked.
"Oh, Sir, I'm useless. I keep leaking so much water. Look at my brother on the other
side. He always delivers a full pot. He has reason to be proud."
"Oh, chod'dho,* never mind," Hari replied. But the cracked pot could not
suppress its feelings of failure.
Several days later, Hari stopped in his tracks and looked at the cracked pot.
"Dekh. Look down on your side of the pathway. Do you see anything?"
"Yes," the cracked pot sighed. "I see some grass and a few flowers."
"You see," the water bearer said, "I knew you were leaking, so I took advantage of it
and planted seeds along your side of the path. And now you've done me so proud. You have given life to the dry earth. And
look at the grass, the flowers and the butterflies. Now mera pyar, I can even cut some of these pretty flowers for my master's
vase. See, you may be a cracked pot but you have created beauty around you."
The cracked pot looked around and its face said it all!
*chod-dho is a Hindi term that literally means, let go; its connotation is, "Don't worry."
Dekh is Hindi for "look."
mera pyar is a Hindi term meaning "My precious one."
Sunithi Gnanadoss, who was born in India, lives in Orange, VA, with her husband, Jay.
